Week 14 CSA Newsletter Sept 18-25, 2022
CSA Newsletter Week 14
Sept 18-25, 2022 | “B” Week
Our CSA is an 18 week season.
Heart of Gold winter squash is featured this week in your box. It tastes a lot like acorn squash.
What’s in the Box this Week?
HEART OF GOLD WINTER SQUASH x1 ~ This winter squash looks like an acorn squash, but with beautiful orange, white, and green markings. Store these on your counter.To prep: To bake, slice in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and place facedown on a cookie sheet. Add 1/2 inch of water to pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes until shells are soft and starting to collapse. Remove and fill with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, seasoning or fillings. You can also just cut the squash into rounds and bake it. the skins of this squash are edible. To freeze: Simply cook squash and mash or puree it. Then pour it into ice cube trays or directly into Ziplocks and freeze.
DELICATA WINTER SQUASH x 2~ This winter squash is oblong and cream-colored with dark green stripes and flecks along its length. These squashes may have stems that were accidentally removed during harvest, so they will NOT cure well. That means they have a short shelf life! Try to eat them in the next 7 days. Store these in the fridge.
BROCCOLI (2 head) ~ Wrap broccoli loosely in a plastic bag and keep it in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Store for a week. To prep: For organic broccoli, soak head upside down in cold salted water (1 teaspoon salt to 8 cups of water) for 30 minutes to remove any hidden field worms. Any critters will float to the top. You can eat the stalks, leaves, and head of broccoli. Break the head into florets of desired size. Then use a peeler or paring knife to cut the tough skin off the broccoli stalk, and cut into equal size pieces. The stalks will require a few extra minutes of cooking time. To freeze: Cut into florets. Blanch in boiling water for three minutes or steam for five minutes. Remove and dunk in ice water for 5 minutes. Drain. Individually quick freeze broccoli on a parchment-lined tray and then package into air-tight freezer bags.
MILD & WILD SALAD MIX 0.4 lb (salad greens) ~ Store unwashed lettuce in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. To store lettuce that you have already washed and dried with a spinner, place back in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel in the bag, and place the package in the vegetable crisper bin. Use within 4 days.
Delicata squash
COLLARDS (1 bunch) ~ Collards are a heartier leaf like kale with a stronger flavor. To store: Wrap the leaves in a Debbie Meyer green bag and store in the crisper. Use within a week if possible or until the leaves turn yellow. To prep: Remove the stem with a knife. Use the leaves fo wraps, stirred into soup, braised with bacon, in a stir-fry, pesto, chili, salads, or served alongside ham hocks. To freeze: Blanch 4 minutes in boiling salt water. Soak in ice water bath for 4 minutes. Drain, let dry, and pack into Ziplock containers.
SWEET ITALIAN RED OR ORANGE FRY PEPPERS (4) ~ To store: Refrigerate peppers unwashed in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer for 1-2 weeks. To prep: Cut in half and remove the seeds from the inside. Slice, chop or mince. To use: Try roasting peppers over a flame until the skin blackens. Place the pepper inside a plastic bag to cool. Then remove to slide off the skins. To freeze: Wash and dry peppers. Freeze whole or cut into bite-size pieces and place in Ziplock freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.
MINI RED BELL PEPPERS (1 pint) ~ To store: Refrigerate peppers unwashed in a sealed plastic bag in the crisper drawer for 1-2 weeks. To prep: Cut in half and remove the seeds from the inside. Slice, chop or mince. To use: Try roasting peppers over a flame until the skin blackens. Place the pepper inside a plastic bag to cool. Then remove to slide off the skins. To freeze: Wash and dry peppers. Freeze whole or cut into bite-size pieces and place in Ziplock freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.
MIXED BABY RADISHES (1 bunch) ~ To store: Remove radish leaves if they are still attached. Store the unwashed greens in a loosely wrapped plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator. Store radish roots unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 1 week. To prep: Scrub radishes well. Trim off the stem and rootlets. To use: Eat radishes raw with a sprinkle of salt. Grate radishes into slaws and salads. Try small young radish leaves in salads or scrambled eggs. Blanch whole radishes in boiling, salt water for 5-10 minutes, or steam them until just tender, 8-12 minutes. Top with butter, salt, and pepper or with a vinaigrette. They’re also great grilled and pickled. To freeze: Blanch for 3 minutes, then dunk in ice water for 3 minutes. Drain. Pop in a freezer bag and freeze. The radish greens can be blanched as well — but only for 2 minutes.
CURED GARLIC (1) ~To prep: Remove the papery skin and base. Mince or chop as needed. To cook: For garlic aroma, try rubbing a cut clove around the rim of a baking dish. Try roasting garlic: cut tops off garlic to expose cloves, brush with olive oil, and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Squeeze garlic out of its skins and spread on crusty bread. To freeze: Leave the skins on and place individual cloves in a Ziplock bag or Mason jar; then freeze.
RED ROMA TOMATOES (6) ~To store: Do not refrigerate tomatoes. Store them at room temperature out of the sun stem side down. Putting them in a paper bag will accelerate the ripening process. To freeze: Place whole in a ziplock bag and freeze. Skins will slide off when you thaw them!
WEEK #14 ADD-ON SHARES: Week “B”
Odd-numbered weeks of our CSA season (week 1,3,5) are called “A” weeks. And even-numbered weeks (week 2,4,6) are called “B” weeks. If you have any kind of non-veggie, bi-weekly share, you have been assigned to either “A” or “B” week for the season. If you get a cheese share, it always comes on Week “A.”
WEEK 14 FRUIT SHARE:
Remember, the fruit share is a 16-week product. It will end on week 16 of our 18-week veggie CSA season.
CORTLAND AND MACINTOSH APPLES (Eshleman Orchards) ~ We’re not exactly sure on this one yet… as of publish time. This may change. These are a cooking and baking apple! With a soft inside. Store in a plastic bag in your fridge, where they’ll keep for 4-5 weeks!
CANARY MELON (Bench Farms) ~ This is an oval shaped melon with yellow skin. To store: If your melon seems a bit short of ripe, keep it at room temperature for a few days until there is a sweet smell coming from the stem end. Once the melon ripens, then store it in the refrigerator. Cut melon should be covered in plastic wrap. To prep: A big knife and cutting board are helpful. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, then cut into quarters or slices. Remove the rind.
Kurt processes and sizes onions for last week’s box.
Ice Cream Flavor of the Week:
Chocolate Peanut Butter from Knueven Creamery. Note: be sure to stop and pick up your ice cream from the Knueven milk truck at your pickup site! They will be located either right before or after your veggie pickup. Your farmers will not be passing this out in their delivery line.
Coffee Flavor of the Week:
Honduras Santa Lucia: Maddie & Bella Coffee Company dark chocolate, zesty orange, sweet
Field to Table dinner guests receive the first course.
FARMER KURT’S FIELD NOTES
Our weekend started out with a BANG with our Field to Table dinner. Chef Joseph Jacobsen and Katie from Cork and Knife Provisions knocked it out of the park again. I really liked the ambiance this year. We set up 2 long rows of tables in a different location this time — by my orchard. The temperature was perfect. For once, the bugs had receded. And with a full moon out, the lighting was lovely. My boys drove the two tractor-hayrides, so that Corinna and I could give a tour of the property. Chef dug a pit to roast a pig, and that became quite an attraction. And Jed and Josiah attended their first dinner ever with us! They practiced their table manners somewhat successfully, thanks to Noah and John sitting next to them. And they begged me to let them start our burn pile for a fun distraction. Before you know it, there was a huge bonfire leaping into the sky with papers swirling across the property!! It was great seeing all of you, being able to highlight my crew, and together celebrate what has truly been an incredible harvest year.
Chef Joseph roasted a pig at the farm on a spit!! This was featured in the 4th course.
I spent two days away from the farm this week, leaving my wife and crew in charge. Wednesday I went to a Field Cultivation expo up in Michigan, where I hung out with the guys from Tilmor and my buddy Hans Bishop. These are my people — I enjoy geeking out about equipment and innovation when it comes to farm tools. I’ve earned the respect of some industry leaders, and I enjoy talking shop with them. On Thursday, I took the whole day to go fishing on Lake Erie with my soil scientist Ken. Would you believe I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’ve never been on Lake Erie to fish?!! I did catch one perch.
The tomato beds are dying back now. If you look at the vines, they are brown and dry — still barely holding onto their beautiful fruits. I’m glad I planned a Tomato U-Pick for the weekend. There was so much out there. And I didn’t want it to go to waste. The U-Pick was a HUGE success. I saw so many of you stop by, and I could tell you enjoyed it. I love giving you a chance to come out and see your farm — be out in the open air and live the dream with us. I think the record for most tomatoes went to a couple from Sandusky, who got 347 lbs! That’s a lot of tomatoes to can in one day!
Did you see the NBC spot about how PENTA Culinary students came out to the farm? They were able to take 2500 lbs of our tomatoes and do something really good with them. I’ll see if Corinna can hook up that video story in this newsletter above.
This high tunnel used to have early tomatoes in it. We pulled out all the plants, and are making it ready for fall spinach.
My crew cleaned out all the tomato high tunnels. They pulled out the stakes and plants. They are now empty waiting for my next move — which will be to plant spinach for the winter. Peppers are still around for a couple more weeks. But then that too will be over. If you want peppers to freeze for the winter, make it happen soon. Sweet corn picking is slowing down. Corinna still hasn’t frozen any corn for us this winter. She plans to make that happen this Sunday.
Jed cultivated the radishes, turnips, and fall carrots for me. We’ve also been busy picking all the winter squash. There’s still more to go! Lots of varieties: butternut, Heart of Gold, Autumn Frost, Delicata, Acorn, honey nut, spaghetti squash. Some of it comes from my fields, and some of it I buy in from my cousin Steve Turnow (also an organic grower). My guys also spent Saturday pulling poly out of the fields with our special mechanical pulley system. Things are cleaning up!
Jed moves bins of winter squash into the cold frame for storage.
How was YOGA on the farm!?… I saw some of you in some very interesting poses over in the corner of my property on Saturday! LOL. Thank you to Claire for making that happen. I know Corinna had just gotten a massage the day before, and she woke up really hurting Saturday morning. She said, “I can’t wait to stretch at yoga!”
Kurt and Corinna went to a regional CSA farmer meet-and-greet in Dayton last week. Here they are getting a walking tour of Mile Creek farm. (That’s Kurt on the right in the foreground).
Last Sunday, Corinna and I left very early to drive to Mile Creek Farm down in Dayton, for a regional CSA farmer meet-and-greet. CSA Fairshare is a non-profit organization that is opening a chapter in Ohio, and we are trying to organize a network of Ohio CSA growers to get to know each other for support and collaboration. As 15-year CSA farmers, we find ourselves in a position now of being one of the “older” more experienced farms, and our presence makes a big difference at these events. It was good to meet some new-to-us growers and start building connections. We really want the CSA movement to grow, and this group is one way we can help that happen.
~Your Farmer, Kurt
SLF DONATES 2500 LBS OF TOMATOES TO PENTA CULINARY
Last week, you may recall that students from PENTA Culinary came out to the farm for their annual field trip. Kurt called up Sr. Culinary Instructor/Chef Janae Makowski and said, “I’ve got a ton of tomatoes I need to get rid of. Can you use them?” Janae is always looking for service projects for her students, and so the idea was born to come out and harvest as many as possible, and THEN spend the next several days at school learning how to process them. The finished sauce was then frozen and will be donated to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. The Islamic Center serves over 300 people, the second Saturday of each month, as part of their community meal program.
This story was recently featured on NBC news last week. We love how our food is a catalyst for a powerful impact to feed others (and inspire students!).
We had over 70 people attend our Tomato U-Pick!
WEEK 14 ANNOUNCEMENTS
- It’s Farmer Kurt’s birthday on Sept. 19! Be sure to say something to him at the pickup site!
- Clean Out the Fridge Challenge ends today. Corinna will choose 3 random winners on Sept 18, from a hat who will each win a $20 Amazon gift card!
- When can I sign up for next year?… We will be opening the doors to pre-registration for next summer season in 3 weeks. Look for next year’s pricing and sign up details in a few weeks. Don’t worry. We give you first dibs to keep your share before we open it to the Wait List.
- You can order additional items from the Shared Legacy Farms online store. Our store link is super easy to remember: www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/store. Just be sure to select the right pickup site that coincides with your pickup location. If the pickup option is greyed out or not available, it means you missed the window to order. You need to place your order 36 hours before your site. We harvest the product on Monday and Wednesday mornings — early. This week, the store will have: green beans (limited), pints of mini garlic, Delicata winter squash, arugula, dandelion greens, green bell peppers, yellow bells, sweet banana peppers, collards, white turnips (no tops), bulk canning tomatoes, sweet corn, bulk sweet corn, parsley, red and orange Italian fry peppers (quart), shishitos, tomatillos, All-star kale, dino kale, eggplant (2 types), cherry tomatoes, globe tomatoes, golden Roma tomatoes, small yellow onions, Stanley plums, honey, local maple syrup.
Lindsey Simpson made this delicata, yellow squash, carrot, potato, onions, garlic soup.
WEEK 14 CSA RECIPES
Members: You can download these recipes as a PDF. These recipes are designed to inspire you to use your box this week! Please check inside our private Facebook group to find your fellow members sharing ideas for what to make with their box! Share a photo and you might be featured in next week’s newsletter!
Quick Collard Greens
Collard Greens with Bacon
Savory Stuffed Heart of Gold Squash
Sausage and Apple Squash
Radish and White Bean Salad
Cast Iron Charred Peppers with Parmesan
Salmon, Avocado & Radish Salad
Simple Stuffed Delicata Squash
Delicata Squash and Red Onions
Roasted Delicata Squash and Tomatoes
Apple Muffins
Apple Peanut Butter Overnight Oats
Minted Melon Salad